Setting
The game is set primarily in "present day" Pacific Northwest, but this world is not quite our own. It is assembled, primarily, from the sources noted in the game's Theme, and its story unfolds primarily via role-play and the plots that run their course in that world. * Click here for a Lexicon of major concepts and terms on the game. * Click here for a list of Characters on the game. * Click here for a list of Factions on the game. * Click here for a list of Artifacts on the game. * Click here for a list of Species on the game. Society In real life, much of society often tends to default to assumptions about things like gender, sexuality, and race: that "whiteness" and "straightness" are "normal" and to be assumed, that gender is a strict or biologically determined binary, etc. Here, on our game, we want to tell stories about supernatural beings having fantastical adventures. We don't want to borrow all the problems of Real Life. So, while we aren't rewriting all of history to remove past social injustice, we would like to present a nicer "present day" setting. To that end, we are following the example of some of our source material and stating that, in the game world, things like gender bias, racism, or intolerance of queerness are just less common. Why assume everyone is straight unless otherwise stated when they might as easily be bisexual? In our fantasy world, we prefer to present all humans as just a little more equal than in the real world. This is a simplistic approach, but it's one designed to foreground fantasy role-play and to create a more welcoming and comfortable environment for everyone. There might be circumstances when players want to explore some aspect of social injustice as part of who their character is. To that end, we don't pretend that our society is perfect or completely free of such prejudices. So, there might be racist cops, or parents might not like it that a same-gender couple attends prom, but it shouldn't be as pervasive a concern as it is in real life. It might well happen to the character, but it doesn't have to happen to everyone. Also, if you do decide to explore this kind of role-play, we ask that you do in a way that is thoughtful, respectful, and meaningful. This policy does not exist because we mean any disrespect to the Real Life struggles of any marginalized groups. This is not because we believe that social prejudices can be handwaved away or that our culture has "solved" them. We just believe that our players deserve a world that, in this mundane but critical way, is a bit better than the real world--where "white" and "straight" and such are not the assumed norm. In Real Life, there are many important battles to fight and keep fighting for human rights, but this is a game. We'd like to make it just a little nicer and, we hope, a little more fun for everyone. Besides, if you really want to play out a story about prejudice, there are much more divisive factors in our IC world to consider--vampires vs. werewolves, for instance. Flexibility We have various code in place to help give a sense of setting and ambiance. This includes time, weather, the phases of the moon, and other such "setting" information. Please understand that, in a general sense, these contrivances are meant to serve as role-play aids, not to stand in the way of storytelling or to limit anyone's creativity or ability to play. That would be silly. If you need to do a weekend scene, but it's Tuesday? Timewarp it. You are absolutely free to do so. If you need it to be night but it's day? Same answer. (See also our notes on Time, below.) If you want a rainy scene but the code says it's clear? Cheat. All that we ask is that within a scene, you adhere to what those who have set the scene have established, whether or not that matches what the code says, rather than altering it partway through. The point is, the setting-related code is there to help, not to hijack, the stories we tell. Please never let the code get in the way of your ability to be creative here and have fun. Time While the game has time and clock code, in practice our storyline follows a much looser, semi-fluid interpretation of time. This is because the realities of Real Life vs. role-played events just can't always mesh that well, and it can take much longer, OOC, to follow a series of events than IC. Since we don't want to deal with the difficulties of explaining why or how what should have taken one IC week took one or more IC months, we do not adhere to a strict flow of time. Instead, the game's time will move forward at a subjective rate, and we may keep the specific time/date fairly vague and only define it as and if it serves narrative purposes. This affects everything from the IC date to character ages, so in general these may be treated vaguely. Magic This is a world where magic exists! We explore this concept extensively on our page all about magic. Locations We have a fairly extensive game grid ("grid" meaning the network of virtual rooms actually constructed on the game) that offers quite a few different locations to play in. We encourage you to use them freely, as long as there's a way for your character to be there. With that in mind, there are many IC means of quick travel to areas in and around the region where the game takes place, so your character can reasonably be just about anywhere they need to be, unless it's in a private or secure location or not strictly on Earth. Occasionally, scenes on the game may need to occur in locales other than those located in just the built areas on the game grid. Additionally, you might need a business or a location that is simply not a part of the game grid for a scene. That is where the Multi-Purpose Rooms come in. These rooms can be used to represent anything from an auto supply store in Podunkville to Times Square--pretty much whatever you need for a scene. Hub The major game areas are quite a ways apart by normal travel standards, which might give some people pause in terms of moving between them, despite our wish that people feel free to RP in various areas. One way around that is by traversing the grounds of Rowanwood, a magical house that has links to various major hub cities. Please check out our Rowanwood page for more information. Main Areas: } | rowcolformat=width=450px}} Other Locations: For a list of game location wiki pages, click here. Category:Location